Tampa Bay Lightning: 50 Greatest Moments In Franchise History
By Kyle Barber
Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
32. Tampa Bay Lightning Trades Martin St. Louis To New York Rangers
Date: March 5, 2014
It’s nothing new for various rumors to start circulating the internet, especially as the hockey world nears what is known as the NHL Trade Deadline. Unfortunately, for every hundred rumors that make their way around the World Wide Web, there is at least one of them that bears some sort of truth.
On March 5, 2014, one of those such rumors would turn the tears of joy they cried over current Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos’ return to the ice after missing months due to a broken tibia acquired earlier in the season into tears of sadness (and eventually anger for some Lightning fans) as longtime right wing (and then-captain) Martin St. Louis would be traded to the New York Rangers.
While there was much discord here in the Bolts Nation over the manner in which this whole ordeal went down, this is not the point we are trying to make here. Rather, we would like to focus on the positives that came from this move.
One of the biggest positives is who we acquired in exchange for St. Louis. Of course, a team like the Tampa Bay Lightning is not going to give away a player like St. Louis, who brought tons of veteran experience to the ice, without proper compensation.
In exchange for Martin St. Louis, the Tampa Bay Lightning would receive then-Rangers captain Ryan Callahan as well as a 2015 First Round Draft Pick and a conditional 2014 second round pick and a conditional 2015 second round pick. While the Lightning would not actually use any of these picks themselves, they would be traded by Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman in exchange for other considerations.
The key component of this trade was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s acquisition of right wing Ryan Callahan. Callahan didn’t waste any time making an impact here in the Bolts Nation. After putting up some decent numbers in the partial season he played with the Lightning in the 2013-14 season, Callahan would sign a six-year extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning that will see Callahan in Lightning Blue until the conclusion of the 2019-20 season.
Before the next season would even begin, Ryan Callahan would be making moves that would greatly impact the future of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Callahan would play an instrumental role in bringing players like Lightning center Brian Boyle and defenseman Anton Stralman to the Lightning in the Free Agency period from his former team.
In the 2015-16 season, Ryan Callahan was named an alternate captain by the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. Given his experience as captain of the New York Rangers and the success he saw in the Big Apple, Callahan was an obvious choice for the job.
While fans like us here at Bolts By The Bay wanted to see former Tampa Bay Lightning captain Martin St. Louis retire as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, we must say that at the end of the day the Tampa Bay Lightning got an incredible deal and are most certainly a better team thanks in no small part to this trade.
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